Epiphytic Bacteria Alter Floral Scent Emissions

Floral scents are key mediators of biotic interactions between flowers and various organisms such as pollinators, antagonistic animals and bacteria. It has been shown that emissions of floral volatiles are influenced by interactions with other organisms at the levels of roots, leaves and flowers. However, it is largely unknown whether and how epiphytic bacteria associated with flowers affect the composition of floral scent. By comparing volatiles of sterile and inoculated plants we found that bacteria may add components, induce or reduce the emission of compounds, and potentially catabolize others. These mechanisms collectively altered the floral scent emission and led to clearly different compositions. Our results confirm that bacteria have the potential to interfere with flower-animal interactions with consequences for pollination and plant reproduction.